Dear diary!

I have been a bit worried lately. Knitting hasn't been the source of inspiration for me for a long long time, and that's odd. Yes, I know that every knitter goes through such periods when not even the thought of purchasing new yarn does the trick.
And yes I know, I myself have gone through such periods before. Maybe it's the approaching Christmas with all it's "necessary" knitting, maybe it's the low caused by this dark season, maybe it's the 7-year change of body's cells..... go figure.

And I've tried! As you remember, I bought new yarn recently and it's still lovely to touch, but it just doesn't call out to me, in that irresistible little voice that is the voice of new yarn: "knit me into XXX pattern, or YYY pattern, phleeeease!". I have leafed through the winter issues of The Mags (and all the old issues, as well), borrowed some pattern books from the library, hung around in Raverly, walked over to the book shop to look at pattern books, opened my stash boxes to look at yarn, tried to think of knitting before falling asleep, been counting sheep..... The excitement just wasn't there.

And then.... and then! Yesterday I got mail. From Twist Collective. An extra number added for their Winter '09 collection. This one. Be still my beating heart! It's a cardigan (check!), it's long (check!), it's feminine (check!), it's beautiful (check!), it's versatile (check!), it's challenging (check!), and I've got just the yarn for it in my stash (check!).

Once again I have managed to cross the void, swim to the other side, return from the black hole, and stop the clocks. Swatch, here I come!

Saturday night fever

Meet the lot - gingerbread cookies, in all shapes and sizes:

*a little bit of home sickness..?

*Jungle Book

*Cats

*fancy ones

wheew!

...mum's the word...

I bought some new yarn today. It's got merino and silk in it, it's lovely. Don't tell anybody!

Hats'n'Cowls-R-Us

Every self-respecting woman wears twin sets - at least a hat and a cowl twin set, right?

Here's what I made from some Rowan Felted Tweed (which has been simmering at the bottom of the stash-stew forever), a "Turn a Square" hat by The Genius Himself, Jared Flood (which is by the way the best beanie pattern ever, but I guess all of you knew that already!), combined with the "Thermis" by KrisKnits:





And, just for the heck of it, I quickly made another "Turn a Square" from pink and white obscurity yarns also from the stash, as you might have guessed.





This one's for personal use, but the twin set.... who knows..... for somebody who has been especially nice this year....?? :)

Something brown, something black and something finished

In my lookout for challenging and interesting knitting patterns, combined with the quest for diminishing my yarn stash with a heavy hand, I came across a perfect pattern.

Finished during the weekend, and photographed in the ever-dimming light of November, here's "Wrap Cable Jacket" from latest VK Holiday issue (pattern by Shiri Mor).

It's knit like this: first the back panel, then right + left side are knit separately by picking up stiches from the side of the panel. With a few decreases and some handy tricks, you get the short sleeves and the fron side nicely done.

I liked making it (it's seamless!), and what's even more important, it consumed some big balls of my ancient Debbie Bliss aran yarn which didn't seem to find its calling before this project came along. It's a warm, soft and versatile garment. Say no more!


As an extra bonus, here's my 2nd Koolhaas hat (by Jared Flood / IK Holiday Gifts '07), made with some obscure alpaca yarn, and embellished with a little something I made while attending a virtual classroom where I was supposedly learning how to calculate value added tax......

On ripping, sulking, getting inspired and eating chocolates

Well, those black gloves blogged about a couple of posts back faced the horrible fate of ripping, despite their genious pattern. Somehow my gauge was fine for the fingers, but the palm part turned out way too big, and would've needed some kind of weird magic to look good (or very bloated hands). RRRRipping they went.

And, these days, as said by the dear doctors in the most-fun-and-touching-tv-series-ever ,"M*A*S*H", I'm catching up on my sulking. With this weather it's oh so easy.


But I've also been a wee bit inspired, mind you, so there's hope still. By new Twist Collective patterns, especially this, this and this (in single color, though), and also the new IK does not look too bad... I may get started on something.

If I'm not too busy sulking, that is.


Eating chocolate, on the other hand, is not getting in the way of the sulking. My favourite kind now is with whole hazelnuts - which is funny, because as a child I use to dislike that particular variant fiercely.

Long shadows, cold light

silent, careful steps of winter
I hear them approaching
light is clear and sharp
black and white